EVANS MILLS, NY – Military Appreciation Night was underway up at the Evans Mills Raceway Park and presented by our friends at the Bob Johnson Auto Group in Watertown and Pulaski. The Bob Johnson Auto Group dealerships include Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Volkswagen, Chevrolet, and Ford, all located in Northern New York and they remain committed to supporting service members and the United State Military including Fort Drum through support of events and programs for soldiers and veterans. The Bob Johnson Auto Group would dress the midway with three sweet vehicles including a 2023 Superbee Dodge Charger that looked capable of winning the Spectator Drags, and a Jeep Gladiator and four-door Willy’s Wrangler.
After heat races concluded, the crowd on hand, including active duty soldiers and veterans that received free admission were informed they were now part of a gender reveal party. Parents of two boys, Nicole and Derek Tillis reported to the flag stand were they stood by to find out the gender of their third child due in late December. Friend of the family Levi Goodale would driver his Thunderstock race car past them on the front stretch and shoot off colored powder. The crowd was split on their guesses. As Goodale sped past, the air around his car turned BLUE! Indeed, the Tillis family will be welcoming a third boy to the family!
EMRP would also like to thank all the soldiers and veterans that attended and participate by standing and being recognized during the armed forces medley playing each branches song.
Spectator Drags would welcome a new competitor, and another returning after over a decade off from Spec Drags. The double elimination tournament would take place before feature racing. Brad Groff in a Ford Mustang would win the first race after a 15 year hiatus over new competitor Thomas Finkley in his Subaru WRX. Groff would climb the ladder and compete twice against Brendon Fone in his neon green Dodge Charger. Fone would win both races and take home the trophy for the night.
Spectator Drag Races Results: 1) Brendon Fone, 2) Brad Groff, 3) Thomas Finkley
Great racing was seen all through the pack and Anthony St. Mary Jr. would methodically work his way through the field to the win in only his second appearance at The Mills in 2025.
Stewart’s Shops Sport Compacts Feature Results: 1) Anthony St. Mary Jr., 2) Mike Cole, 3) Mike Greenfield, 4) Cory Mayer, 5) Billy Matteson, 6) Sam Curcie, 7) Chuck Powelczyk, 8) Tony Frezzo, 9) Ariana Greenfield, 10) Tony Pettinelli, 11) Tim Greenfield, 12) 114 Amy Seeley
SC Heat Race Winners: Mike Greenfield, Tony Frezzo
Jared Gilson coming off a feature win the night before would take off and develop a good lead over Levi Goodale and Justin Burns and looked to take the race in dominant fashion. In the closing laps as Goodale and Burns started racing each other harder they caught Gilson, and Colby Goodale would enter the picture in fourth. Burns, would eventually find his way under Levi exiting turn two and take the second spot as Gilson would cross the Thousand Island Bait Store Start Fishin’ line first making it back to back wins.
Thunderstocks Feature Results: 1) Jared Gilson, 2) Justin Burns, 3) Levi Goodale, 4) Colby Goodale, 5) Micheal Marcinko, 6) Christopher Wilson, 7) Bill Gardner Jr., 8) Blake Briggs, 9) Wyatt Held, 10) Zak Petrie
TS Heat Race Winners: Micheal Marcinko, Jared Gilson
Joey Clark, in his sophomore campaign in the Kinney Drugs Modifieds would jump out to the early lead after a lap one caution, reset the original start. After the second green flag waved the Kinney Drugs Modifieds would run green-to-checkers. Clark would maintain a steady pace as Taylor Caprara worked to find Clarks bumper. Joe Papin would be charging through the field until he met Andre Roggie and Taylor Caprara. Caprara and Papin would fight hard and in doing so caught Clark in the final three laps, but their side by side racing would be distracting enough for Clark to finish his smooth laps scoring his first ever feature win.
Kinney Drugs Modifieds Feature Results: 1) Joey Clark, 2) Taylor Caprara, 3) Joe Papin, 4) Andre Roggie, 5) Kaden Rogers, 6) Levi Arthur, 7) Jeff Pringle, 8) Dylan Bancroft, 9) Kyle Hart, 10) Tony Pettinelli, 11) Eli Petzoldt, 12) Terry Gardner, 13) Scott Dinzler, 14) Jake Brown
MOD Heat Race Winners: Joe Papin, Andre Roggie
Damian Goodnough, a rookie in the Christman Fuel Service INEX Legends and perhaps the youngest competitor of any on Saturday nights would lead the field to green keep a strong pace until a mid-race spin on the front-stretch. From there, veterans Joel Hall and Brayton Malbeuf would take control of the race with Malbeuf working hard to catch Hall. Once again the INEX Legends ran a clean exciting race and Hall would be celebrating with son Jayden in victory lane once again.
Christman Fuel Service INEX Legends Feature Results: 1) Joel Hall, 2) Brayton Malbeuf, 3) Devin Thornton, 4) Landen Herring, 5) Josh Oomen, 6) Jayden Hall, 7) Zach Christman, 8) Aaron Wilmot, 9)Damian Goodnough, 10) Ian Siebert, 11) Carrie Carr, 12) Brianna Berry
IL Heat Race Winners: Brayton Malbeuf, Josh Oomen
Chuck Meyer looked to be the class of the field in the heat race, but come feature time it would be Tyler Papin showing the real speed and finding his way to the front to finish off another feature win.
Excess Storage Pro Late Models Feature Results: 1) Tyler Papin, 2) Chuck Meyer, 3) Rylee Gill, 4) Matt Larrivee, 5) Dylan Bancroft
PLM Heat Race Winner: Chuck Meyer
Next Saturday July 26th is the Coca-Cola Watertown 4-Banger Nationals with split features for the Stewart’s Shops Sport Compacts and Thunderstocks. The Dirt Modified Nostalgia Tour will also be joining a card featuring the Kinney Drugs Modifieds, Excess Storage Pro Late Models, and Christman Fuel Service INEX Legends. For more information contact the Evans Mills Raceway Park at (315) 323-6033 or emrpgm@yahoo.com.